£38,335 - £44,880 for exceptional candidates + competitive benefits
Based in Exeter
Full-time

The Met Office is both a WMO Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) for aviation and a WMO Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre (RSMC) for radiological events. As well as this, we provide operational support to UK Government and Emergency Services in a range of other emergency scenarios. Organisations rely on our expertise and knowledge to operate safely and efficiently. Atmospheric Dispersion and Air Quality (ADAQ) is an expanding and crucial area for us and right now, we're looking for a talented Scientific Manager to set the direction and lead the way to future success.

In this important and invigorating role, you'll be responsible for managing and guiding the scientific direction and modelling priorities of a team within ADAQ, and for contributing to the management and direction of ADAQ as a whole. How can we maintain and grow our scientific credibility, integrity and reputation for excellence? How can we improve our products and commercial outputs? Your expertise will be fundamental to helping us optimise capabilities and maintain our status as a global leader in dispersion modelling. You'll combine scientific and softer skills to motivate and manage your talented team of scientists. And, taking on a wide variety of stimulating challenges, you'll focus on helping develop and enhance our dispersion services, our external collaborations and our world-leading Lagrangian dispersion model, NAME. It's no exaggeration to say that no two days will be the same in this dynamic role: the research and challenges you'll take on could range from physical, chemical, biological and volcanological processes, buoyant plume rise and urban flows to source inversion, data assimilation and impact assessment. You'll also take the lead on national and international collaborations. Working with internal customers such as our emergency response department, your expertise will be key to making sure we can respond effectively to customer needs.

The person

With a strong scientific or mathematical background and an impressive track record of research in atmospheric physics and/or dispersion or composition modelling, you'll hold a wealth of subject knowledge. You've confidently and successfully developed project proposals, plans and numerical models. And your softer skills are just as important: you'll need experience of leading and motivating individuals in the delivery of scientific projects, with the key focus of optimising overall capabilities. Dispersion modelling is a hugely dynamic area of our business, so it's important that you're confident in your approach and comfortable influencing and communicating clearly with people at all levels, building good relationships along the way. You should be passionately enthusiastic about scientific research. Someone who thrives on challenges and isn't afraid to explore new ways of working to enhance what we can do. Someone who loves applying their scientific knowledge to complicated problems and real world scenarios. Credible and passionately curious, you keep up-to-the-minute with the latest scientific advances and constantly strive to increase your knowledge. In the event of an atmospheric dispersion emergency, you may need to provide support and expertise out of normal hours for which you'll be entitled to our Critical System allowance.

What we can offer you

We'll invest in your development and continued learning and support you to achieve your professional goals and ambitions. Rewards? There are plenty of those too. A competitive pension, opportunities for flexible working, performance-related pay schemes, some great benefits as well as 25 days' holiday, which increases to 30 days' after 5 years. And based in our award-winning Exeter headquarters, you'll have world-class facilities all around you.

About us

Like millions of others, you probably know us best for the weather forecasts that you hear on the news or read on your phone. But did you know that our forecasts reach as far as space? Or that high profile organisations across the world - from governments and the military, to the NHS and utility companies, rely on our expertise to operate safely and efficiently? Through world-leading science and cutting-edge technology, through idea generation and enthusiasm, we collaborate to challenge the ordinary every day because we believe in the best. The best for our customers, the best for your career. It's a career where you'll be challenged, developed and fascinated; a career where whatever you do, your work will make a valuable contribution to the bigger picture. A career to be proud of.

Apply

To find out more, and to apply online, please click on the apply button below.

Closing date: 23^rd September 2013.